AS IF winning the Malaysia Cup is not enough, we have been set an impossible target of 75 goals this season. Or else forget about the trip to Spain.
Impossible, I say, because it's like asking the Selangor team to reach for the sky. There's no way we can ever hope to hit that number of goals.
True, they were able to score eight to 10 goals per match but then, in those days, football was not restricted by systematic tactics. Man-to-man marking, with a sweeper to pick up the loose ball was unheard of then.
It's different now. No defender is willing to concede an inch for a striker to line up his shot. That's why goals are hard to come by these days.
Thus, the FA of Selangor's condition for us to win a trip to the World Cup finals is rather stiff.
But if they insist that we meet the target, then we'll go for the broke and use 10 men in attack, leaving just the goalkeeper to fend for himself. It's suicidal but this way, we can hope to score 75 goals.
But at the expense of our winning the Malaysia Cup? God help us!
Already the amount of matches I and seven of my PKNS teammates in the Selangor team had to play is unbelievable. And this, in a way, has affected Selangor's performance.
Since Jan 12, when Selangor Invitation played Boca Juniors, my PKNS teammates and I have played 14 matches, including the Malaysia Cup match against Sarawak last Sunday.
It adds up in something like 14 matches in a month - an average of one every two days!
This, obviously has been to Selangor's detriment. Coach M. Chandran has hardly had time to work out team strategy and tactics and the players' fitness.
Although we have the experience and talent to pull us through, I noticed that we were struggling to string together decent moves against our opponents.
Recently, PKNS general manager Datuk Mohammad Nor Ismail came up to me after a League match and asked if I was feeling tired after so much football, I just shrugged my shoulders.
What was there to say. I have to accept it as an occupational hazard because I want to see Selangor and PKNS do well.
One of our worst displays so far was against Sarawak, whom we managed to scrape through by a goal. I only hope that we'll get out of this rut soon.
A cheer for us is that we have at least two weeks to rest before our next Malaysia Cup match - the big one - against high-riding Malacca.
I'm sure all soccer fans will be looking forward to this clash. So am I.
The rest will come in handy as Chandran can have all the time he needs to instill confidence and sort things out before we face Soh Chin Aun and company.
Santokh Singh, who missed the match against Sarawak, should be back in the team by then and he'll make all the difference. With centreback K. Gunasekaran out of action for the rest of the season due to a knee injury, we just can't afford not to be without Santokh.